What Kind of Shadow Do You Cast?
Opaque objects such as the human body do not let light pass through them and results in the creation of a shadow.
As leaders, our responsibility is to move our teams from here to there. As we do, we must be careful not to let our shadow block the vision of our followers while we are out front.
We all cast shadows
When our teams fall directly under our shadow they become less effective as their vision is impaired.
Blinded by shadow
Metaphorically, the leader who lacks self-awareness of the shadow they cast may inadvertently create problems for their team(s). While the leader may see clearly where they are going, their teams may not.
Without clear landmarks and continuous communication, the teams they lead, might find themselves completely lost. As a result, team members may disengage as they feel discouraged, angry, or frustrated.
Leaders with lacking foresight will not have the capacity to understand their people and will simply ask their followers to keep up and “get with the program”.
What does the shadow represent?
We create shadows because light cannot pass through us
The word transparency is important and discussed a lot today in business. In its simplest form, transparency simply means allowing light to pass through us to give others the opportunity to see what we see.
There is little our followers and teams can do themselves that will help. This cannot happen without specific actions on the part of the leader. As leader, it is our responsibility to be aware of the shadow and provide our teams insight into the environment ahead.
Shepherding Principles provides us a framework for doing this:
1) Speak to them using their language
People listen best to people they trust. And people trust those who speak their language.
When we engage our people on their terms (not ours) we increase trust. When done properly, our connection to our people strengthens allowing our actions to become more predictable and their ability to anticipate our movements increases.
2) Re-position them gently
At times, listening to us and hearing our perspective is not enough to receive the ‘buy-in’ to earn followership.
When that occurs we need to move our people to a place offering an alternate perspective. We trust them to make sound judgement when they see clearly. People commit for themselves in their own way. Leaders that dictate don’t end up leading long.
How do we offer clearer vision?
Open conversation with the team providing deeper understanding of the problem and asking for help
Senior leadership Q&A session
Training in the problem area
Team discussion groups
Books, seminars or other online learning opportunities.
Questions to consider:
What shadow are you casting that might be impeding the vision of people on your team?
What can we do to provide more transparency into decision making?
What type of shadow is your leader casting? How could we help them?
Thinking differently requires entertaining new perspectives. One book that helped me do that was The Art of Possibility.
